The theatre industry (certainly in the UK) is currently doing an enormous amount to address and correct the impact which our work and processes has on the environment, this is something which needs to be supported and we also all need to ensure that all of the fantastic work currently being done with respect to this issue continues. A conversation I had over the weekend led me to consider the impact my work may sometimes have in other areas of the world we all share and the impact it possibly has on the lives of others, this is an enormous and complex subject, below are few personal thoughts about all of this and a little more…I have no real answers but just plenty of questions…
I love my computers, they’ve opened my world and allow me to do so many creative things which I could only have dreamt about just a few years ago. The world, in all it’s horror and glory, is at my fingertips and I can explore our planet and beyond until my heart is content. I can create and easily share sounds which previously only existed in my head, I can also share my thoughts and ideas almost instantaneously, whilst I can provoke and support my friends with no more than a few keystrokes. My world is undoubtedly a better place because of computers, but like anything all of this comes with a cost and in common with all transactions, the financial and moral outlay all of this demands needs to be considered.
I’ll be honest and say that I’m suspicious about the benefits hardware and software manufacturers are getting from me/us/the user and possibly I should just ignore all of this doubt for my own sanity, but for my own peace of mind, I need to consider that what benefits me personally is not at the detriment of someone else’s (just as important) life.
When buying a computer am I buying a tool, or buying into a lifestyle? Why is the choice of tools/lifestyles available to me in computing terms relatively limited? I can be Mr Shiny and Popular Mac (who’s currently impersonating a Lion…grrrrrrrr), Mr Boring (always on the verge of a breakdown) PC, or the guy who stands alone in the corner at parties (blushing when a girl looks his way) Mr Linux. Those of you who know me will no doubt already have chosen what Operating System best describes the Steven Brown you think you know, maybe that’s where one of the problems exists as I might be considered all three. Anyway…
My thoughts. Firstly, PC. I like the fact I have a choice, a choice of graphics cards, a choice of processors, a choice sound cards, I can configure the hardware of a PC in any way I want, to suit the use I intend for it and importantly, to suit my budget. I own PC machines which have cost just a few hundred pounds to build and others which have cost a great deal more. But the downfall is using a Windows O/S, although this has greatly improved since Windows 7 it always seems to run programs and services which just aren’t needed for the uses I generally require from any computer, and in doing so slowing down processes, using up RAM and processor power. Although all of this can be relatively easily addressed however adding a new program or piece of software can severely compromise the reliability and stability of something that was seemingly working fine just an hour before. This generally causes a little swearing and no small amount of frustration…As close to open-source hardware as we have but I’ve got better things to be doing.
MAC, plain and simply, I want to decide the configuration of my machine, thanks for the advice but…I’ve just bought a new Mac Mini, it has a fantastic specification for something so small, second to none, but it doesn’t come with a CD/DVD player/writer, the Mac website helpfully TELLS me and I quote directly “Exactly what you need. And nothing you don’t. Mac mini is designed without an optical disc drive. Because these days, you don’t need one.” Hold on a minute how do you know I don’t need one? Actually I do. The arrogance of such statements really puts me off Apple as a company. I hate that over confident ‘I’m your friend’ kind of corporate attitude. Apple seem far more inclined to tell us all what it is we actually need rather than offering us choices to suit and what actually we might really want. Maybe a small thing for some, but sorry, not for me. The days of people telling me what I want, what I don’t want and how I should live my life ended a long time ago, the summer I waved goodbye to good ol’ Ma and Pa, I’m a grown up now and strange as it may seem I’m more than perfectly able to make my own decisions about all kinds of things, my life, my bank account, my employers, where I live and also, somewhat surprisingly, what I want from my computer.
Linux is something I like a lot, something which appeals to the maverick side of my personality. What concerns me is that it always seems to feel as if it’s still in development, something I know all O/S’s and software actually are, but I don’t always want to feel that slight insecurity when I’m entrusting it to host my work. Open-source is definitely the way for me, this is being written on OpenOffice which is my only office set of tools, I only use SeaMonkey as an email client, they’re stable and free and I have no wish to bolster Microsofts profits any more than I already have done. Which brings me too…
How do computer manufacturers contribute to the world which we all inhabit and are all responsible for?
Addressing the misuse and exploitation of labour is something which is dear to my heart. It’s always motivated by greed and the need to ensure that investors get the maximum return for their outlay. The worker is seen as a replaceable and unimportant part of the chain, the only real requirement from the product is maximum profit and all too often this is achieved with total disregard, or respect, for the lives which are negatively affected in achieving this goal. This for me is the real problem I face. I’m first and foremost a worker and always will be and have no grand designs above making a living and contributing, in some way (hopefully positively), to the world we live in.
I’m also in no doubt that there are numerous small software developers, for all platforms, which contribute vastly to the fields they create for. I can pay a few pounds for a piece of software, no problem, but the real beneficiary is those profiting from creating the O/S and/or hardware to host this small investment of mine and that’s where the exploitation begins. The host often costs more than the software it’s actually hosting and something, within my limited intellect and small brain, tells me this might actually be the wrong way round. If I, for example, wanted to buy a standalone reverb unit I wouldn’t then want to pay goodness knows how much more to someone else (who has nothing to do with the manufacture of said unit) in order for it to work. That I’m afraid is a fact as far as I’m concerned. You might want to create something which allows a person some creativity, or the ability to solve a problem, but you can only do this if you work within the parameters set and dictated by someone sitting in their ivory Silicon Valley tower (or less sexily in an open-plan office just off the M4 near Basingstoke) thus adding to their coffers as well as to the persons who’s grafted and worked hard to develop a piece of software. This all seems wrong to me, however that is me looking at things selfishly…
Lets look towards supporting those less well off than me (or possibly you) who are manufacturing our devices. There has been much written about this recently and all has been done far more eloquently than I’m able to. Maybe a quick look around the internet will offer a little more information about all of this, or perhaps maybe it won’t.
Now my real problem is how I deal with my conscience and the responsibilities I have to deliver what I’m paid to professionally create, do I just ignore what I believe to be wrong? Or do I try and address the situation and raise awareness? How do I live with the guilt I often feel? (Write a blog?)
I have no wish to buy into a ‘lifestyle’ I have one which I’ve created myself and which has nothing whatsoever to do with the things I own but it has everything, to do with what I think and what I believe to be right (and have, on occasion, also been proved to be wrong). I’m not the latest Blackberry, iPad or version of Windows, I’m a human being whose basic responsibility is to respect and if possible help those who perhaps don’t enjoy the perceived freedom I have, this is far more important [to me] than ‘needing’ to own the latest must-have gadget, or piece of software. Although I’ll be the first to admit that I to am so often seduced by what is being marketed to me by Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Nokia and the rest, all of whom are constantly tempting me, flattering me and prodding my conscience in order to access my bank balance. You flirts.
So for me Mac isn’t any better, or any worse than a PC because in essence (and ignoring the temptations they offer us) they’re both as bad as each other. The choices I make are based firstly on my real needs and never on what I’m told will enhance my life, or by what happens to be in-fashion this season. I now question everything when it comes to giving money to the mega-corporations who are increasingly dictating to us that certain products will enhance, or simplify our lives whilst often fulfilling needs we didn’t know we even had…but now they come to mention it…
